Hi, when I am dry firing my handguns, I notice that the front site slightly quivers a little when the trigger breaks. Is this normal or just poor trigger control. Thank for your thoughts!

Practice dryfiring while balancing an item on the front sight.

yes trigger control and great idea about the shell case!

If you're dong it correctly the front sight won't move at all.  A very firm grip helps.

It me a few months of dry firing almost nightly to get to where the front sight doesn't quiver at all.

Yeah, I've been doing dry firing nightly as well. It takes so much precision, focus, and luck for me to get the front sight to stay utterly still. I'm just having a lot of trouble being able to do it consistently. I mean, I have to have my finger on there absolutely perfectly. I have noticed that it's much easier to do when the grip is not exactly centered in the web between my thumb and pointer finger. I have relatively short fingers, so maybe that's a partial issue.

My theory (I shoot Glocks) is when the trigger hits the stop at the end of the pull that force has to go somewhere which generates the quiver.

A very firm grip will help alleviate this.

Especially a firm support hand grip.

My forearms actually start to burn after extended dry firing.

Just got an XD, and the front sight does as you describe when I dry fire. Didn't have that problem with the 1911 platform. From what I can tell, my trigger control is good. I am thinking it may be a result of the crazy heavy trigger and striker fire mechanism?

Do you have any double action guns? Dry fire practice in double action is like taking warm up swings with a heavier bat, it makes what you actually use seem so much easier and lighter when you need to use it.

I've found that it also helps me to figure out my grip strength. The harder I squeeze, the less the front sight jumps when dry firing at speed until I get to where there is practically zero movement.

How hard would you saw a propper grip is? Is it the hand crush job interview grip? I use more of a sealed the deal to buy a car grip, firm but not overly so. I have no better way to describe it.

As tight as you can grip the gun without shaking the sights.

 

So try and crush the pistol?

Edit. Did some dry fire this morning out in the shop and 100% of the time with an empty .38spc case on the slide of my M&P Shield and Fullsize it never fell but there was a small shudder when I pulled the trigger. I'll work more on the tightness of my grip and keep dry firing.

There are two schools of thought. One is that you should only grip the pistol hard enough to properly recover from recoil quickly, if the front sight falls back on the target, you're likely doing this one right. The other school is that if your hands don't hurt when you're done, you're probably not doing it right.

 

I fall in the second one. My thought is that a tight as hell grip as close to the bore axis as possible is not only going to be great at managing recoil, but it will also compensate for the front sight being disturbed in rapid fire. I can press the trigger quicker.


Grab a shot timer (some phone apps work good for that) and do a few bill drills from low ready. Experiment with your grip pressures. Don't worry too much about a few fliers, just watch the front sight and try to shoot as fast as you can.


If you're getting diagonal strings or a low left/right group, that's your trigger press disturbing your shot. Instead of slowing down and getting a clean trigger break, tighten your grip up and your groups should tighten up.


I'm not saying a really tight grip will overcome bad trigger discipline, but it will buy you faster splits, especially within 10-15 yards.  

That little shudder can be from your grip strength breaking while you work the trigger. Could mean that you're trying to grip too much with your trigger hand. Try tightening up the off hand and the muscles in the bottom of your strong hand wrist. You kind of want to isolate your trigger finger.

 

So I had been dry firing for about 30 minutes (not continuously) 4-5 nights a week and really crushing it with my support hand.

I gave myself fucking tennis elbow!  

Needless to say I haven't been dry firing much.  Hurt like a bitch but getting better.

After doing some research I found this is actually fairly common with dedicated pistol shooters.

Shooter's elbow.

 

Rest, ice, anti-inflammatory OTC drugs, and when you feel better, look up some exercises to strengthen the involved muscle groups, that'll help keep the muscles and tendons from becoming inflamed in the future.

Your grip should be firm, not strangling the gun.  An over tight grip will cause muscle fatigue which will make it harder to control your fine motor skills.

I would recommend experimenting with a looser grip and steadily increasing the grip strength until you find it comfortable AND effective at minimizing front sight movement.

I have this same problem. With a G19, 3.5 connector and heavier trigger spring, if I don't really bear down with my support hand, the front sight will quiver slightly to the right. 1911s, and Beretta M9 I don't have this problem at all.

I have always had this problem with my Glock 19.



In fact, it's there on just about every gun I dry fire.  I very much notice it when attempting to shoot fast with a SIRT.  The faster I go, the worse the movement of the gun.

I tried different trigger finger placement, using the distal joint (first knuckle), different heights on the trigger itself.



I did notice using the knuckle helps; which is opposite of what I've learned over the years.....so maybe it only applies when speed shooting.  I honestly don't know.



However, recently I bought some grip strengtheners and started at the 100lb ones.  Brought them to work, hit em 10 per side maybe 10 times a day.

Within a week I was up to 150lbs, but that's a whole other ball game, and these will take a while to get 'past' and up to the 200lbs.



That all being said, when I have issues with my shooting at the range recently, I decided to increase my grip on my support hand, and it REALLY made a difference.

However, I think what I'm really doing is compensating for a deficient trigger press, so I'm actually fighting myself.



Chris Sajnog says a firm enough grip can overcome any lack of trigger discipline.  But I had to reinforce bad habits I can get away with from a firmer grip.

The problem is, I can't find another way to fix it.



So until someone shows me different, I'll be increasing my grip strength.

Crush that bitch. Deadlifts help a ton with grip strength. Front to back pressure with strong hand, side to side with off hand. Squeeze the pecs and drop elbows just a little for all-encompassing equal pressure.